ANDY'S HANDS ON FOR EARLS

FROM coordinating press conferences for Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane to organising matchday operations in the Midland League, Andy Walker expertly fulfils a varied football lifestyle.

- Tony INCENZO

I’ve known Andy for almost 15 years ever since his days on the media staff at Birmingham City FC. Then for the last decade he has been senior communications manager for England men’s national teams.

What really fascinates me though is Walker’s position as chairman of his local NonLeague side Earlswood Town FC in the Solihull area. So I travelled up to a recent Midland League Division Two home match versus Littleton to find out more.

Accordingly, I began by asking how he first became active at Earlswood.

“It was a chance meeting shortly after the world started re-emerging from Covid lockdown,” Walker explained.

“I’m Solihull born and bred, but it is fair to say Earlswood Town were not on my radar until I attended a fixture against Alcester Town in October 2020 when I bumped into a contact serving on the committee. Six months later, the same person messaged me out of the blue to say their chairman had stepped down and asked if I would like to take it on. I’d always fancied linking up with a Non-League club so I accepted and the rest is history.”

I was entirely impressed by the meticulous hands-on approach Walker adopts at Earlswood Town. As I arrived an hour prior to kick-off, he helpfully guided me to a parking space. And throughout the afternoon, I spotted him rushing around accomplishing a number of assorted tasks – including rapidly retrieving stray footballs booted off the pitch!